Can Anyone Fill a Pedigree?

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

LopsAreGreat

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2020
Messages
168
Reaction score
65
Location
Washington
Hi! I’m looking to fill out a pedigree for my future litters. Do I need some sort of registration with some rabbit organization or can I simply print one offline and fill it out? I’m hoping to open a small rabbitry in the future and need to know if simply filling out a pedigree by myself without being a part of a rabbit organization or something would be legitimate. I don’t want to fill one out and not know if I need to pay for something or be part of an organization to have a pedigree. It seems so simple but I’m not sure if there are extra things you must do to fill one out? Can someone please help!
 
Anybody can fill out a pedigree. The main organization for rabbit breeding in the US is the American Rabbit Breeders Association (arba.net) but they don't have a strict registry like dogs or horses do. You should still join the ARBA. They are the ones that publish the standards for each breed and sanction shows - joining also gives you a nice guidebook and a bimonthly magazine.

Do be warned that MOST of the pedigree templates online are awful. In the rabbit world, a valid pedigree needs the NAME, EAR NUMBER, VARIETY/COLOR, and WEIGHT for three generations (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents). Along with DOB of the rabbit itself and the address of the original breeder. Optionally they have REGISTRATION NUMBER, GRAND CHAMPION NUMBER, LEGS and WINNINGS. If the pedigree is missing even one of these (eg, missing weight or variety) it's not a valid pedigree. A lot of the pedigree templates online are missing stuff.

Here's an example a pedigree template that has all the correct spots: (note: arba sells a book of pedigree blanks on their site - this is one that somebody scanned into a computer, looks like). Looking through a google search for "rabbit pedigree template", and a lot of them don't have places for some of these values.
2a3652568cd030730326835f5ecdb223.jpg


If you want to, once a rabbit is 6 months old if they fit the breed standard they can be registered with the ARBA. You need to find an ARBA registrar to examine the rabbit & their pedigree in person though; most people do this at shows. I've got an ARBA registrar license so I look over pedigrees all the time.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top